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Avete,
fraters et sorers!
This year's Legio VI contingent consisted of our valiant
Tesserarius, M. Valerius Brutus (Brandon Barnes), spunky
recruit
Quintus Antonius (Lisa Klassan), the
brave war
correspondent
Lady Pompeia Pulchra (Lorie Ann Hambly), and
yours truly, Centurion T. Flavius Crispus (Dave Michaels),
who was
honored to be appointed lead Centurio for all needlefelt
battle engagements. I can report the entire weekend was a
stunning success and more fun than should be humanly allowed
for all concerned.
We will all have many adventures to report. Your Centurio
led two major campaigns into a devastated forest swarming
with hostile Germans eager to replicate the Teutoburg Forest
disaster of AD 9. In the first day's battle scenario, the
Roman legions under General Q. Varus (Dan Peterson) marched
into the deep woods guided by our "loyal ally," Arminius,
king of the Cherusci. While set up in advance to stage a
Roman defeat, this day's action saw us Romans "altering the
experiment" and actually winning a string of ambush
engagements in the forest, only to be eventually worn down
by attrition in open ground within site of the Fort. We lost
the Aquila and standards that day (as the event staff had
planned), but one survivor did get back to the fort and the
whole affair was a much longer, more complex affair, with
much cat-and-mouse on both sides, than the quick ambush and
slaughter scenario that was originally envisioned. This was
the longest, most complicated battle staged at Lafe to date,
and it was only topped by the following day's action...
Fast forward seven years to the retribution campaign of
Germanicus, portrayed by
Terry Nix. In the morning, the
Germans attacked our fort and actually forced an entry at
one point, with two Germans seizing control of one lookout
tower; alas, some foolish Centurio had placed the Lady
Pompeia in that same tower for her "protection."
Fortunately, the Germans were preoccupied by our attempts to
retake the tower and did not harm her; also, the war
correspondent got a first-hand experience of battle,
watching ballista bolts streak by as our own artilleryman
(George Metz) turned his siege machine on our own tower to
keep the Germans' heads down. The Germans were soon killed
and flushed out, and the assault force beaten off. This was
followed by a full-force attack by the Romans on the German
encampment, with the Romans employing a coordinated
combined-arms assault with both heavy infantry and
light-armed auxiliaries. Long story short (I'll be happy to
recount the details to all interested parties at some future
meeting!), it was an overwhelming victory-- we stormed their
fortified hillfort, slaughtered the Cherusci to a man,
killed the traitor Arminius and returned the standards to
Rome!
The forests of Arkansas have been devastated by a recent ice
storm, which resulted in about a third of the trees snapping
in half and thousands of tree limbs forming a tangled mass
at ground level, but this only added to the eerie atmosphere
and made our campaigns more realistically difficult. The
weather was generally excellent and the event staff, as
always, generous, polite and incredibly accommodating. The
Fort and nearby Vicus look outstanding! The fort is now
complete, with a rear wall and gate, and a permanent Caupona
called "Diana's Hound" has joined the tavern called the
"Black Capricorn" in the Vicus. Attending groups were:
Legios II Augusta (both the Arkansas and Canadian groups,
all of whom were terrific), III Cyrenaica, V Alaudae, VI Ferrata, VI
Victrix, IX Hispana, X Fretensis (Texas), XI Claudia, XIV
Gemina, XXII Primagenia (who portrayed Germans, with our old
friend
Deks (Craig Nordquist) as Arminius); and XXIV Media Atlantica; several
Celtic and German groups also attended. Overall participants
numbered 83, including about 40 Roman soldiers, 30 Germanic
warriors, and several noncombatants, making for the biggest Lafe
attendance yet. The Canadian II Augusta formed the largest
contingent, and their Optio,
Licinus (aka Sean
Jack) served
ably and valorously as my second in command. Our beloved alumni
Julius Fiegelson
and
Jared Fleury also attended, and seeing them by itself
was almost worth the trip!
Tuus frater et Centurio,
T. Flavius Crispus
Legio VI VPF |
